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Having a higher level of vitamin D in your blood means you are less like to develop bowel cancer than those with low levels, according to scientists.

A study published in the British Medical Journal has concluded that those with the highest levels of the vitamin were at 40 per cent lower risk of developing the disease compared with those with the lowest levels. Scientists looked at vitamin D quantities in 1,248 people with bowel cancer and 1,248 controls in the largest ever study of the subject.

It comes after medical experts expressed concern yesterday about the rising number of cases of rickets - caused by vitamin D deficiency - and called for it to be added to milk and other food products.

The main source of vitamin D is sunlight, through skin exposure, but it is also present in a small number of foods, such as oily fish or cod liver oil. According to the research team, although the latest study provides evidence of a link between vitamin D and bowel cancer it does not prove that taking vitamin D supplements prevents the disease.